writer at play
Posted in inspiration on Aug 31st, 2009
(Click on the links for parts one, two, and three.)
This workshop requires the use of a good visual dictionary. I have the DK Ultimate Visual Dictionary, but the Merriam-Webster one looks pretty nice, too.
Flip through the book, stopping at pages that interest you. Take a moment to study each double-spread, enjoy the images, read the [...]
Posted in reading on Aug 29th, 2009
And how could I resist the opulence of this dress?
It’s been a long time since I’ve been interested in fiction (like say, a couple of weeks) and I did not expect to be pulled back into it by a YA historical. Enjoying it, though!
Are you reading anything outside your usual genres?
Posted in personal on Aug 27th, 2009
Fall is brewing in this part of the world. I felt it this morning when I woke up, and felt it again when we went out. There’s an edge to the air, a wildness in the wind. The sun slants in differently through the windows and into the yard. Gauzy tent caterpillar nests are wrapped [...]
Posted in creativity, kids at play on Aug 26th, 2009
Er, that sounds like the title of a B horror movie, doesn’t it? But, here, let me show you what I really mean:
See those people at the bottom? They have bodies! I’ve been watching Sir I. transition from “tadpole” people (the ones with legs and arms sticking out of their heads) to torso-endowed people all [...]
Posted in kids at play on Aug 23rd, 2009
A week ago, Sir I. was flipping through a book about the human body (he’d wanted to see what he looked like “on the inside”) and came across a handprint cast project. “We have to do this, Mom!” he said, waving the book at me. Of course I couldn’t say no in the face of [...]
Posted in personal, writing process on Aug 20th, 2009
Tonight I’m walking down to the library to lead a short story writing workshop for teens.
Part of me is still dizzied by my brashness in volunteering to do this (this is the same part that whispers to me, snake-like, “Give up. You’re no good at writing/educating your kids/whatever. Let the specialists do those jobs while [...]
Posted in kids at play, picture books on Aug 18th, 2009
Sir I. loves maps. World maps, treasure maps, road maps, atlases and globes. I got a kick out of his commentary on our road atlas yesterday in the van: “Wow, look, I found Florida! And the north part of Kentucky!” (Yes, this kid managed to decode the world Kentucky all by himself, too). Half [...]
Posted in kids at play on Aug 17th, 2009
Yesterday, the kids and I were out in the yard. They were doing their own thing while I read a chapter of Reclaiming Childhood titled “The Child as Poet”. I was racking my brain, trying to remember if my kids had ever made up an original poem when I noticed Miss M. staring intently at [...]
1. Bright sunshine.
2. Sir I. reading a sign at the farmstand by himself (“Potatoes under here, hiding from the light”).
3. Fresh sweet corn and juicy Pennsylvania peaches. Mmmm!
4. Taking Baby-zilla’s rampages in stride, including the dumping out of a box of spaghetti and a box of 96 crayons. Not to mention his happily pulling out [...]
Posted in short stories, writing process on Aug 12th, 2009
Last night I wrote 619 words of a new story, the first time I’ve written original fiction in a long while. They were kind of meh and I knew they were kind of meh as I wrote, but I got them out in spite of the internal cringing. It doesn’t help that I’m currently reading [...]